In the past, toy manufacturers have used a tethered striker for musical percussion instruments, as is desired particularly by parents to prevent the strikers from becoming separated from the instrument and/or lost. For example, the Little RhythmMaker™ Drum sold by Little Tikes is a child-sized drum that comes with two tethered drumsticks. One end of each tether is attached to a respective opposite side of the drum and the other end is attached to an end of the respective drumstick. The Little RhythmMaker™ Drum is intended for children of two years of age and up.
Instruments intended for younger children typically have only a single tethered striker. Toy safety standards make it difficult to incorporate more than one tethered striker. If the tethers can tangle or form a loop, or both, in connection with any part of the toy, the perimeter of the loop should be less than 14 inches for children younger than 18 months. Thus, if a second tethered striker is employed, the tethers had to be of length that made it difficult for a young child to use the strikers, thereby reducing the play value of the toy instrument. On the other hand, the provision of only single striker oftentimes made the toy less realistic, as in the case of a drum which is normally played with two drumsticks.